“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
2 Corinthians 5:17
Have you been reflecting God’s love in your marriage? It starts with belief in God and allowing Him to set your belief ablaze … a burning desire for all that God has to offer.
That belief and trust in God will cause us to reflect God’s love and bless others. That belief and trust will cause our husbands to see a glimpse of God’s love for them through us.
Below is an adaptation of a message focused on the first week of the Reflecting God’s Love in Marriage … A Wife’s Call to Action Bible study. For the full teaching, please scroll down to the YouTube video and click on the link.
Like marriage, creation begins and ends the Bible. “In the beginning, God created …”
God created Adam and Eve in perfection. God walked with them in the Garden of Eden—until they sinned. They disobeyed God’s one commandment and ate the forbidden fruit.
Separation from our holy God was the consequence. They were expelled from the Garden of Eden—to protect them from eating the fruit of the Tree of Life and staying in their fallen nature for the rest of their lives.
But God’s love … God covered them with animal skins—the first sacrifice.
Because of their sin, men and women no longer enjoyed peace with God, peace with nature, or peace with each other.
Throughout the Old Testament, we see God pouring out His love upon His people and promising reconciliation, a right standing with our Lord and King.
John 3:16 tells us “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
God gave His Son, Jesus, to pay the price for our sins. The price required that the wrath of God be laid on those sins—laid on Jesus.
In His suffering, Jesus prayed for forgiveness for those who nailed Him to the cross. That’s why He was on the cross—to bring forgiveness.
“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
Luke 23:24, NKJV
That’s how much He loves you and your husband.
Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and after three days, He rose from the dead and appeared to many. Then, He ascended into heaven where He sits at God’s right hand speaking on our behalf.
One day, Jesus is coming back. One day, there will be a new heaven and a new earth. All things made new. We’ll even have new bodies!
On the day of Pentecost after Jesus had ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit fell on Jesus’ followers, and they spoke in languages that they did not know and told people about Jesus.
Three thousand people believed that day. And they became new creations in Christ.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; …”
“In Christ” means that we are at rest in Jesus.
In Christ. Clinging to Jesus with fervent love. Like a marriage. You can find the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19.
Friend, are you clinging to Christ and embracing Him with fervent love?
Paul writes in Ephesians 4:22-24 that we need to, “… put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
It’s like Paul is urging us to smash the darkness in our lives like smashing thick, dark glass that we can’t see through.
As new creations in Christ, we see that we can behold, “… as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,” We’re “… being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
That mirror is getting clearer, and we’re now beginning to see people, even our husbands, not from the world’s perspective but from God’s perspective.
Believers are new creations in Christ.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away.”
“Old things have passed away.” Jesus took our sins away when we accepted Him as our Lord and Savior. Revelation 1:5 tells us that Jesus washed our sins in His own blood. Our sins were washed away—old things have passed away.
Has Jesus washed away your sins?
Old things have passed away.
“All things have become new.”
If you’ve accepted Jesus as your Savior, you are a new creation. Your life is in Jesus. Yes, you still battle with sin, but we have Jesus sitting at the right of God speaking on our behalf. He’s asking God to see us through His cleansing blood. You are a new creation, old things have passed away, all things have become new.
Will you trust Jesus? Will you let Him set your trust, your belief on fire? On fire for your marriage?
Paul wrote to the Ephesians in Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Salvation is a gift from God. We can’t earn it. Jesus earned it. God gave it.
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We are His workmanship. The word for workmanship is “poiēma.” We’re God’s poem. We’re His masterpiece.
We’re His new creation. And like in 2 Corinthians 5, we have work to do. God has equipped us to be His ambassadors, each with unique gifts that are beautiful.
As God’s Ambassadors, We Are Reflecting God’s Love in Our Marriages.
We’re God’s ambassadors. His representatives.
As we walk with Jesus, the Holy Spirit continues to transform those dark shards of glass along our paths into brilliant colors. He pieces them together into brilliant designs that astound us.
The Light of the World, Jesus, will put us on the mountaintop and shine His light through the glass. The light will rest upon our husbands and upon the world.
As God’s lovingkindness rests on our husbands, a spark flickers in our hearts.
We step closer to our husbands, and a flame kindles our spirits.
We study our husbands, and we catch a glimpse of them as Jesus sees them.
We praise the Lord, and our prayers for our husbands ignite.
Our hearts burn with love for our husbands.
We completely surrender our marriage to the Lord, and our belief is set ablaze.
The bonfire that began with a spark shines its light through the shards of glass now transformed into God’s masterpiece by the Holy Spirit.
The light dances around and on your husband. Your hands join as you both behold the beauty of the Lord’s light.
Friend, is your belief in God and what He can do in your marriage ablaze?
How’s your trust in God today? Does your belief need to be kindled?
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